Anna Glynn - New Mythologies

Active in the emerging Australia - Sino art scene with her home studio perched in the rainforest at Jaspers Brush, Australia, Anna Glynn has worked and exhibited extensively in China. With her frequent exposure to China, Glynn uses the advantageous contingency of both countries to create a body of work with a universality of appeal in line with current concerns centering on environmental precariousness. There are states of mind that seem personified by a visual that seamlessly marries sensibilities from each culture.

Anna Glynn broaches the diversity of being in the animal world through simplified characters, filled with semitransparent layers which are then presented as elegant scrolls, making animism a friend rather than a foe. Glynn characterizes the animal with recognizable human traits providing a bridge between a complex sophisticated take on the otherness of species with a more child-like, approachable rendition. She has referred to her creations as “hidden worlds”. Glynn calls forth the white from the black, the light from the heavy, the delineated from the suggested, and allows a broader range of interpretation. Like Dylan's lyrics, “She can take the dark from the night-time”.

Ortansa Moraru - New Allegories

With a PhD. in printmaking, woodblocks being her specialty, Ortansa Moraru was born in Corabia, Romania and immigrated to Canada. In addition to an active art practice, Moraru currently works at the Marvin Gelber Print & Drawing Study Centre at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Her interlacing of the knowledge of her homeland with that of her Canadian life is set within allegory. There is a European air to her imagery as if it is fuelled by tales from her origins. A keen treatment of the subject under the guise of a playful rendition brings complex notions into a more pleasurable contemplative range. Both magical and whimsical in aspect, the intricate interwoven lines leave little room to doubt the solidity of her visual meanderings.

Ortansa Moraru's philosophy is couched in a format that can be light and serendipitous calling to mind childhood illustrations. The baroque nature of fairy tales where evil is acknowledged emerges much like the twisted thorns that accompany a rose. Her imagery, although woven in splintered lines which woodblock printing is perfect for the capture, evokes friendly spaces acknowledging the wonder of Nature's achievements.